Obama issues veto threat for House defense bill - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

Obama issues veto threat for House defense bill

The White House issued a veto threat Tuesday over three provisions in the House version of the 2012 defense authorization bill and raised strong objections to pile of other items in the bill, including a call to establish a unified military medical command and attempts to change the process for repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell.”

The statement of administration policy on HR 1540, the House defense policy bill, comes as lawmakers were about to spend several days debating and possibly amending the $689 billion measure with hopes of passing it by Memorial Day.

A veto threat at this early stage is not unusual and was expected, considering that the House is now controlled by Republicans who have different ideas than President Obama about many defense programs and strategies.

Specifically, the letter from the White House’s Office of Management and Budget warns that Obama’s advisors will recommend a veto of the bill over limitations on the development of a main engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter — a move the administration sees as a way to possibly keep alive an alternate engine that the White House has been trying to cancel.

A veto also is threatened over provisions involving the implementation of the New START Treaty. White House officials say one provision would prevent the dismantling of nuclear weapons that are in excess of military needs and that a second encroached on presidential authority to set policy for nuclear weapons.

The third veto threat involves provisions related to detainees being held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Language in the bill would limit detainee transfer, which the policy statement calls a “dangerous and unprecedented challenge” to executive powers by precluding the option of conducting trials in federal courts. Another provision would restrict transfers of detainees to other countries, which the statement says would interfere with foreign policy and national security decisions.

And although not specifically threatening a veto over the issue, the administration also said it “strongly objects” to provisions aimed at preventing, delaying or undermining repeal of the ban on open service by gays. The House bill would change the process for certifying when the Defense Department is ready to allow that to happen. The White House said anything that sounds like delay creates “uncertainty for service members and their families.”

Also receiving a strong objection from the White House is a provision that would order the Defense Department to create a unified military medical command to replace service-specific commands. The statement does not say this is a bad idea, only that it comes too soon.

“DoD will shortly complete a study on how to best deliver high-quality medical care to service members and their families in an effective and cost-efficient manner,” the White House statement said. “Among the options this study will consider is a joint medical command similar to this provision.”